B3 – Chapter 40: Fallthorn Forest – Unseal!

Tristan descended the Queen’s Wood and both-direction spun his crucible, connecting himself to the Fey Realm’s essence.

How interesting, the familiar voice of Zeltana said in his mind.

“How are you doing that?” Tristan muttered as he walked toward the chambers below where he hoped he could find Bertram and Rory.

You have enough essence capacity now that when you connect to the Fey Realm’s essence, I can squeeze my consciousness in along with it. While you’re here, connected to the Realm as you are, I can provide guidance. I cannot read your thoughts – those are closed off due to some weird purple film.

“Mind dragon blood,” Tristan replied as he reached the chambers and found them empty. Damn. Okay, well, let’s get Felicity on it. “Felicity?!” he called out, his voice resonating through the entirety of the Fey Realm.

Heading upstairs, he met with her in front of the Queen’s Wood, “What do you need?” she asked as she wagged her tail back and forth in her usual fox-sized fairy dragon form.

“Go find Bertram and Rory. Tell them I’d like their assistance in case there’s a fight.”

“We’re going to fight people?” Felicity asked.

“Maybe. We’re unsealing the Fallthorn Forest.”

She clapped her front paws together, “Neat! I’ll go find them. Hey! Dragon-lady! Where you at, you scaly bitch?!” she flew off toward the Summerbalm Springs proper.

Tristan turned to face the slowly coming together group of fairy dragons, all of whom were in their Elfanoid form and wearing armor that appeared to be made of the same alloyed metal as his suit of armor. Interlinking chain loops, with a cloth padding underneath, and scales layered over the important, vital parts as to not restrict movement.

Dorni, the Underboss of the Gnomes, walked over, “Are you satisfied?” he asked with a slight smile.

“You have been outfitting our forces,” Tristan replied.

Dorni scratched his bear, “We finished preparing goods for the market a while ago. Figured moving onto an armory was the next reasonable step.” He pointed to a section of the crafting area that was hidden from view, “We dug a hole, made a nice underground section with perfect proportions – you should come see it.” He waved a hand and Tristan followed him over to a set of stone steps that went down into the ground. Fairy dragons filed past him wearing armor and holding weapons, joking and chatting among themselves.

Two massive, stone doors that slid into the polished, dark granite walls opened up to reveal a chamber easily two-hundred feet long and fifty feet wide, with racks upon racks of weapons and armor – being distributed amongst fairy dragons who were entering from the opposite side and being outfitted by the Gnomes. “We have enough to outfit double the population we have currently,” Dorni said confidently.

Tristan saw another chamber off to the left – a small corridor – and walking through he saw a longer and bigger room that was filled with Unicorns who were walking down almost like a line of assembly; Gnomes and fairy dragons on either side, outfitting them with armored plates protecting their vital components, their horns covered with bladed helms that made them appear quite fierce.

New designs and alloyed metal instead of Adamant Wood? Fascinating work they’ve been doing, Zeltana thought to Tristan.

He shook off her comment and glanced at Dorni who had joined him, “Well?” he asked expectantly.

Tristan nodded and felt a little bit of tension in his stomach, but given his learning of the Realm’s history from Zeltana, he was aware of the familiarity with war and conquering. “I want to make one thing clear,” Tristan said firmly. “We will not force people to fight who do not want to. Make sure the word is spread – volunteers first.”

Dorni nodded and stroked his beard with more fervor, tugging on the long strands that looked like iron wires. “I’ll spread the word. You may want to appoint a warmaster, though.”

Tristan shot a look down at him, “Why would you say that?”

“You’re re-expanding the Fey Realm, and we don’t know what happened in the Sealed away sections,” Dorni said quietly. “I died along with several of my brethren – only because we are stored in the eyes did we survive the Kobold invasion of the Undermount. That, and the confined space to hold choke points.” He shot a glanced back to Tristan and his voice hardened, “The Fey Realm is a bountiful paradise; more so with your recent changes. Others will try to harm us here. We need someone who can fill in an advisory role when it comes to mass, armed conflict.”

The leader of the Spriggan, if he is still alive once the seal is undone, Zeltana said with confidence. A master tactician.

Tristan sighed but knew Dorni spoke wisdom, “Very well…but I hold firm to the idea that only volunteers unless we are extremely, truly desperate.”

“Aye,” Dorni said with a confident nod. “Will do.”

Tristan turned and left the underground chamber, heading back to the front of the Queen’s Wood where he saw Bertram and Rory standing with a now-armored Felicity in her elfanoid form. “You’re not fighting,” Tristan said.

Felicity frowned, “Why not?”

“You’re going to be invisible and keeping me covered,” Tristan replied. “Extra eyes and ears.” He looked to Bertram and Rory, “She told you what we are doing?”

Bertram nodded curtly, his voice hardened and resolved but with a cheeky undertone of sarcasm. “Yeah, sure, we absolutely want to keep my little brother’s Realm nice and safe.”

Rory let out a light chuckle and spoke a moment later, “We heard that there may be combat depending on what happened in the sealed part of the Realm.” She cracked her knuckles, “I can’t wait to have a good fight. It’s been a few days.”

Tristan looked out at the still-gathering forces as The Matriarch landed next to him in her Elfanoid form, dressed in battle armor similar to that of the fairy dragons. “Lord Tristan,” she said curtly with a slight nod. “We are almost ready.”

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Dorni joined them and shared what Tristan told him about the volunteer force, ending with, “…The lad has a good point about that. Volunteers can be better trained as well. And with the whole Heavenly Realm deal Thallia is working on, we can have a hard to kill force with rejuvenation spells.”